A taste of Italy in a Puget Sound garden
The first two private gardens on Day 2 of the Puget Sound Fling last month were neighbors, each gardening intensively but in very different styles. It was fun to explore the two gardens side-by-side and imagine the owners bonding over a shared love of plants. Let’s start with the garden of Donna Andersen, a large formal garden made welcoming with comfortably furnished patios and personal art.
Painted windows add a message of faith in a formal garden border.
The owner was inspired by living in Italy for a time and wanted to bring European style to her garden in Milton, Washington. One striking feature is an arched and columned wisteria arbor running along one side of the house.
A large, curvy lawn is set off with an undulating border of shrubs, trees, and flowering plants.
Blazing red flowers of crocosmia
The deep garden border includes a shady remembrance garden in honor of Donna’s mother.
“Connecting with this is the St. Francis Garden in memory of our many lost fur-babies,” she says.
A weeping tree resprouting from the trunk — storm damage, I wondered? — made an umbrella-like centerpiece for an island bed.
Other trees including Japanese maples are beautifully layered into the garden.
Up next: The eclectic plant playground of the Risdahl-Pittman Garden. For a look back at stumpery and bonsai at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden and Pacific Bonsai Museum, click here.
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immaculate! lush! SO GREEN!!!!! i can conjure up only vague memories of that particular verdant look as we swelter down here in San Antonio 🙁
generous & inviting arbor & seating area, too – were they as cool as they look?!
It’s not the best time of year to be a Texas gardener! But if it gives you any hope, I spent money today to try to manifest fall. I bought a jacket and a pumpkin spice candle (oh yes I did) and roasted green chiles. Fall’s gotta be coming, right?
As for the Puget Sound gardens, they were beautifully lush and quite comfortable, temperature-wise, by Texas standards. But as locals would tell you, they were coming off an intense heat wave, and their gardens were suffering a bit. I am sure it was stressful for the owners the week or two before we arrived, watering desperately to keep everything from crisping. By the time the Fling kicked off, it was cooler but still warm the first two days (upper 80s, as I recall), and then the last two days were more normal, in the mid-70s. I was thrilled with all of it.
Sadly, I had to fairly run through this garden as I had meandered too long through the neighbor’s garden beforehand. Had a brief, lovely chat with the owner and asked her what her favorite part of her garden was. It was the remembrance garden. What a nice tribute to her mother. I also meowed briefly back and forth with her cat in the kitchen window. And, let’s not forget those gorgeous magnolias blooming along the street!
The owner was very nice. It’s great you got to chat with her. And the cat! 😉